Mike Salsbury/The Olympian
Kevin McFarland prunes a mountain ash tree at the NeighborWoods nursery.

NeighborWoods training spotlights do's, don'ts of tree care

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Sept. 1

OLYMPIA -- When doing training for Olympia's NeighborWoods program, Joe Roush, an urban forester for the city of Olympia, and Kevin McFarland, a consulting forester, warn against two major tree-care pitfalls -- tree topping and string trimmers.

Weed wacking

Known to most gardeners as weed wackers, commonly used string trimmers -- which cut errant grass and weeds by spinning a plastic string rapidly -- can devastate trees.

"I've see hundreds of trees get killed simply by string-trimmer damage," Roush said. "Trees have very, very thin bark."

While NeighborWoods trainees are warned against it, the problem is widespread in Olympia, Roush said.

Instead of whapping tender new trees, gardeners should wrap the base of the new trees in 4-inch plastic drain tile or tubing, Roush said.

That creates a trunk protector reaching about a foot off the ground, depending on the tree size.

Gardeners also should surround the ground around their trees with mulch, wood chips or compost -- not only to keep away weeds, but also to maintain moisture and keep away water-sucking grass.

Tree topping

Then there's tree topping -- pruning incorrectly by making cuts at random, also a pervasive problem in South Sound.

"You don't go up and just start inadvertently lopping limbs off. This is a big, big problem all across the country. It's extremely damaging," Roush said. "When you don't make a proper pruning cut, it allows the tree to develop rot or defect."

Topping reduces a tree's food-making ability and makes it more susceptible to insects and disease -- problems sometimes undetectable until five, even 10 years after the topping.

The National Arbor Day Foundation says gardeners should never cut main branches to stubs because the limbs grow back even higher than the original branches.

Instead, gardeners who prune small branches should make the cut near -- but not touching -- the "branch collar," the slightly raised ring where the limbs attach to the tree.

Branch collar cells, like cells around a human scar, allow the cut to heal.

Many people mistakenly top or "head" trees because they grow into utility wires, interfere with views and sunlight or because they grow too large.

While most power utilities hire trained arborists to take care of wayward branches, pruning and cutting won't stop a tree from growing, Roush said.

"You can't slow down the growth of a tree," Roush said. "Trees are not bushes. The tree is going to be as big as it is genetically programmed to be.

"You can redirect its growth, but you can't make it smaller. A good, pruned tree should look like a good haircut," Roush said.

McFarland said pruning and planting rules for trees pertain to similar plants.

"You can apply the same training we present to (NeighborWoods candidates) to planting a rosebush," McFarland said. "A lot of times what happens is it opens them up to doing more stuff in their own yard."

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